The "Gatehouse" Facility
The ONI "Gatehouse" facility was a massive Office of Naval Intelligence complex situated in the exurbs of the rural capital of Avalon, Glastonbury. A series of unusual disappearances occurred within towns in close proximity to the facility prior to OPERATION: HYGEIA and the "Gatecrash" Incident prior to and during 2549. The facility was reputed as the key to Avalon's unusually strong defense, providing the advanced fleet over the planet with equipment and technologies that, paired with Orbital Defensive measures, could almost provide a match for an attacking Covenant fleet. Between 2549 and late 2551 the facility was abandoned following it's declaration as public safety hazard. The complete information on what happened to the "Gatehouse" facility was limited to four section three ONI agents all of which were killed during the Battle for Avalon. History Beginnings Starting as a research post for the Office of Naval Intelligence in 2526 with the rising need for new technologies to resist the Covenant onslaught, the "Gatehouse" facility was coined such due to the immediate breakthroughs made by it's occupants; discoveries of various drugs, weaponry, materials and energy sources were among these. Much research was shared with Wayland Industries who incorporated it into intuitive defense designs for the UNSC Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. Disappearances In the wintry June of 2534 two fourteen year-old children vanished in the woodland near the town of Ira. A squadron of UNSC army troopers under ONI critic and army general Imran Sachin were deployed to assist in search efforts drawing immense suspicion to the case. No conclusive results were found from the search however a torn article of clothing was found in a rudimentary shelter in the woods and a severed finger belonging to one of the boys was found outside his mother's home. Several residents of Ira reported seeing strange things on the paths at night and several soldiers and police posted at the town reported hearing unnerving animalistic sounds behind static in communications equipment. During the search a pair of troopers were reported MIA, one's helmet was found caked in blood, the soldier was located weeks later, catatonic with a scalp injury, reports also found that he hadn't seemed to have displayed any medical change since the weeks he was reported missing as if he had been in stasis. The other trooper was never found the the survivor was relocated to a hospital with severe cranial trauma. During the summer of 2534 another victim was claimed by the facility. An engineer was reported missing from his home at 2100 hours, all doors had been locked from the inside and once breached the local law enforcement found signs of a struggle. Over the next few years disappearances became more frequent until, in 2549, the town of Ira was evacuated, two platoons of marines occupied the town while civilians were shuttled away in pelican dropships ASAP, an engineering platoon was fielded to construct a barrier around the area later coined the Ira Exclusion Zone. An armoured platoon arrived the following week and so began the "Gatecrash"; in a singular event unheard of in UNSC history General Imran Sachin of the UNSC marine corps gained permission to march on the ONI facility against the current occupants, the operation was sanctioned by the UNSC marine corps, army corps and the Office of Naval Intelligence themselves. Two M850 MBTs and a dozen M831 Troop transports supported by AV-14 attack VTOLs entered the compound at night, by day, both MBTs had sustained heavy damage and four transport hogs remained, a comment made by a reinforcing soldier backed by similar notes from his fellow squad members, as follows: Seem to suggest the O.N.I presence was either overrun or turned beyond humanity. All reinforcing soldiers after the first wave were equipped with biohazard equipment and the current teams were med-evaced with soldiers never being heard from again and others returning in a vegetative state. Following this a battalion of biohazard equipped, UNSC marines and army troopers stormed the compound suffering far less casualties utilising an M6MFT Odin Multifunctional Armoured Battle Tank (MABT). The facility was deemed a hazard and cordoned until it's occupation became necessary during the battle of Avalon. Battle for the "Gatehouse" In 2551 the Covenant assault of Avalon began in full force. With many classified and unfinished technologies and invaluable assets still remaining within the compound, a company of marines were fielded to the abandoned facility to hold it against the covenant assault and, if needed, erase the "Gatehouse's" secrets forever, denying the Covenant access to invaluable discoveries beyond even their advanced designs. The marines under Trent Callaghan, a student of Imran Sachin, were equipped with two squads of anti-tank specialists, two squads of engineers, six rifleman teams, a squad of marksmen and spotters, three squads managing M850 MBTs, three squads managing M6MFT-HO4 Odins, five squads of machine gunners and two squads of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. The battle began in earnest on June 18th of 2551 when Type-52 Phantom Covenant dropships unloaded fourty squads of Covenant soldiers into the surrounding town and woods, while the HO4 Odin's strafed the estimated positions with volleys of missile artillery. An hour after the infantry waves' jackal marksmen came into sight, picking off counter marksmen and other troops that exposed themselves, Type-25 Assault Gun Carriages as well as Type-32 Rapid Attack Vehicles were fielded against the UNSC forces. Category:Bases Category:Office of Naval Intelligence